This year I decided to reduce my online presence and eliminate social media so that I could focus on these next big goals without added pressure or comparison. 2024 was a particularly vulnerable moment for me because I intentionally put myself in a period of isolation to further hone in what’s important this season and take action towards these priorities; eliminating digital distractions.

2024 was a bigger year that I could have imagined for myself. I had some big scary goals aligned for myself and God was like, “That’s cute but I’m gonna do more.” I have certainly been stretched and, in areas where I may have previously experienced anxious thoughts, I felt as though I could just walk more confidently this year. It was still hard but nevertheless I experienced more confidence and less comparison.

The Big Step

After nearly two years of preparation, I decided to take a pause on my career so that I can focus on raising our baby girl and growing our family. Getting the opportunity to raise our baby full time has been so so hard but also such a privilege. There’s so much more I have to learn but like any job I’ve taken on full time, I like to give myself a year to learn the ropes and routines. Because it’s my home and family, however, it’s been especially hard for me to practice patience and understand that’s it’s going to take time to learn the job and establish new routines for us.

Since I started using a ring planner system, I liked printing a vision board for my reference each year. More recently, I started checking off images almost like a “life Bingo” card. It’s pretty amazing to see progress visually and I’m totally biased but who doesn’t love crossing things off a checklist.

In sum, 2024 was the year I…

• Put my career on pause and focus on family full time. For about a decade, I have worked feverishly toward my career. Pausing my career is something I could have never imagined. My mom was a single, working mom and I grew up very differently than what my daughter might be experiencing
• Paid off majority of my student loans. One more left! I’m sooooo close to the finish line and reaching 100% debt free but I had to pause this goal since having to rebuild emergency savings again
• I officially logged off social media beginning March 2024 and removed from daily habits
• We traveled to Italy and Maryland to visit family
• Our first camping trip with a toddler
• Maintained solid friendships and scheduled frequent coffee shop, play dates, and lunches with some friends
• Baby girl turned two years old
• Learning new routines alongside my family
• Reached (survived) about 7 months of stay at home motherhood life
• Plot twist– our landlord decided not to renew our lease and we ended up purchasing a home late 2024. It was my 2025 goal to save more for a home purchase but God had other plans. God’s timing is WILD. Buying a home this year was not something I even thought I could dream of but it happened and I am incredibly grateful we got this opportunity

Paz, Marivel